


The Great Beyond

by Angst_BuriTTo



Category: Criminal Minds (US TV), Dharma & Greg
Genre: Fluff and Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Misunderstandings, Of It, Presumed Dead, This is a concept we need more of and I challenge you all to write more, playing fast and loose with the law
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-02
Updated: 2020-05-02
Packaged: 2021-03-02 09:13:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,357
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23968906
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Angst_BuriTTo/pseuds/Angst_BuriTTo
Summary: “Well, it took you long enough, ~Clifford~.”Aaron froze.That voice. It couldn’t be. She was-“Well, aren’t’cha gonna look at me, sweetie?”Aaron whipped around so fast he stumbled, and someone - he wasn’t sure who, and didn't care at that moment - righted him before he fell.“Dharma?!!?”
Relationships: Aaron Hotchner/Dharma Montgomery, Greg Montgomery/Dharma
Comments: 6
Kudos: 59





	The Great Beyond

**Author's Note:**

> My first try at the D&G fandom. Ya’ll should watch the show on YT, seriously its priceless and Hotch is Greg and you cannot convince me otherwise

  
  
  


* * *

  
  
  
  
“ _ **It’s ok, Greg, she’s gone to the great beyond. She’s happy there.**_ ”

Greg couldn’t help but roll those words over and over in his mind as he packed his suitcase (the one Dharma had insisted he buy from the little old lady at the market place because all the proceeds went towards preserving sloths and their environment and was made out of environmentally-friendly materials and was hand stitched)full of all the stuff he didn’t want to leave behind.

Greg felt his heart, already shattered, crumbling further in his chest at the thought that he would never see Dharma’s smile, never hear her endearing snort when she laughed or the way her nose would wrinkle when she did so. He would never have to threaten to sue the news stations if they filmed his wife dancing naked on the roof of their apartment building on the first day of spring, or have to mow their apartment floors lawn every spring. He would never see her in one of her German tourist costumes and have to explain to mall security why his wife was pretending to speak German and causing clerk after clerk to quit out of frustration. He would never spend another night in the police station after being caught having public sex in the name of winning that damn duck/goose lawn ornament. He would never -

She was gone; and now he was going to do the only thing he could think of to get away from her memory: _Kill Gregory Clifford Montgomery_.

* * *

_**  
10 years later:** _

It had been a long, gruelling case, and all of them were tired, dirty, and in desperate need of a shower, a full nights sleep, and a meal that wasn’t from a take-out box. They had caught their UNSUB, but not before he had killed two more women and injured a third. These were the cases that, to Hotch, felt like despite having caught the UNSUB, he still failed. He had failed to save the people that had been killed and hurt after they got there, and he couldn’t help but feel if he had been faster, had thought of details sooner, had more information - but then, Hotch knew, his whole team felt that way.

Hotch tended to be the harshest on himself, though. After... after his love died, he couldn’t help but think that if he had been there - but no. It had been ten years. It still pierced his heart with a shard of grief to think about his first and only wife, but he had a son now, even if Jack’s mother had run off when she realized he wasn’t willing to marry her and he had still wanted to keep the child, a child she didn’t want and wanted to put up for adoption.

He couldn’t help but see the irony of the situation. It hurt.

He had his son now, to keep him spiralling too far into his grief.

He let out a sigh as they all exited the elevator, and as much as he hated to say it...

“Conference room for post-case debrief.”

The team let out loud groans in complaint, Reid being the loudest, and Morgan growling more then groaning.

“I know, but if Strauss finds out we didn’t, I really don’t want to deal with her, and I doubt any of you want to, either.”

“Aaron, one day - ” Rossi started, smirking. Hotch cut him off with a shake of his head and a tiny smirk of his own.

“Dave, don’t say anything that could implicate you in court.”

“They’d call it self-defence.” Dave shrugged, chuckling, and the team hummed in agreement.

“Remind me that I never heard this conversation,” Aaron deadpanned, looking back at his team, frowning when he saw that they had stopped, confusion in there faces as they stared past him into the conference room.

“Well, it took you long enough, _Clifford_.”

Aaron froze.

_That voice_. It _couldn’t_ be. She was -

“Well, aren’t’cha gonna look at me, sweetie?”

Aaron whipped around so fast he stumbled, and someone - he wasn’t sure who, and didn't care at that moment - righted him before he fell.

“ _ **Dharma**_?!!?” Hotch gaped at the vision of the blond woman - older then he last saw her, but still as beautiful as the day they met and married - sitting criss-cross-applesauce in the middle of the round table, eating tofu.

“ _ **Greg**_!” suddenly Dharma leapt into his arms with a flying leap - and it _had_ to be Dharma; no one else would dare leap into Aaron Hotchner’s arms and wrap around him like a koala bear - and he stumbled back again, not as young as he used to be, and not used to this old yet familiar act.

Her lips were on his, and he was kissing her back, ten years of separation and I-thought-you-were-dead filling the long kiss and making the room steamy enough that it wasn’t until he heard a throat clearing behind him that he pulled back from his _wife_.

“Uhh,” Hotch turned around, Dharma still in his arms, face buried in his neck, taking in his scent, as she loved to do. “Long or short explanation?”

“Let’s keep it short for now,” Morgan crossed his arms, and the team looked at him expectantly.

“This is my wife that I thought was dead ten years ago and changed my name to Aaron Hotchner.”

“Ok, so long explanation.”

“Oh sweetie,” Dharma sighed, “You know that everyone wants the long explanation.”

“But I can always hope,” Aaron whined, pouting at her. He didn’t see his teams incredulous looks that they gave each other at the sight of there usually straight-laced, stern and frowning boss _pouting_ and _whining_.

Dharma patting his cheek, smiling at him. “That’s another part about you that I love, sweetie, always so hopeful that things will change into your plans.”

They all sat down, Hotch still had Dharma in his lap and wrapped around him, and he wasn’t letting her go anytime soon, despite knowing that if Strauss walked in here right now and saw the position he was in she would blow a gasket.

“So, I was born Gregory Clifford Montgomery,”

“ _Clifford_ ,” Dharma snorted, and he mock-glared at her and pinched her side, making her squeak, then giggle.

“Shut up,” he smiled, and she grinned back at him.

“No _you_ shut up!” Grinning at the familiar banter, Aaron turned back to his team, who, despite their obvious confusion, were clearly hiding smiles at the couple.

“Dharma and I met and fell in love at first sight - she found out my name, where I worked, and how to break into my office and sat on my desk until I arrived at work within an hour. She dragged me to reno and we had blueberry pie, then sex, then eloped, all within 24 hours.”

He could see the shock on his teams face, and while he knew the story sounded crazy - that was just who he and Dharma were - impulsive and crazy. But he was aware that that wasn’t who Aaron Hotchner, the man his team had known for ten years, was.

“Five years later, Dharma’s father had told me that she had gone to the great beyond and was happy there - but looking back,” Aaron grimaced, shaking his head, chuckling. He looked at Dharma, “I should have remembered just how your dad is.”

“Oh!” Dharma laughed, “Greg! The Great Beyond is a weekend nature retreat where we celebrate the beginning of autumn and dance in our natural state beneath the harvest moon and praise Mother Earth for the beginning of the ending of one season to begin another!”

Aaron blinked, then stared at the wall.

“As in... _naked_?” JJ asked, eyes wide, sharing a glance with Emily.

“How else would you dance beneath the moon?” Dharma asked, nose wrinkling in confusion.

“Actually, dancing naked beneath the moon to praise deities is a very common practice throughout history. In fact, the druids - ”

“He’s _adorable_!” Dharma gasped, eyes wide, looking at the young genius.

“Can I keep him?” Dharma asked Aaron, who laughed at Reids wide eyes and startled and slightly frightened look.

“Honey, you can’t keep my youngest team member, we need him, and he’s a person, you can’t keep people, that’s kidnapping and slaverery and as a federal agent I would have to arrest you.”

“Awww, _darn_.”

“You were saying?” Emily cleared her throat, and Aaron nodded, laughing slightly.

“So I thought Dharma was dead,” Aaron swallowed, remembering the all - consuming grief and loss he had felt at the time. “So I killed off my identity of Greg Montgomery and became Aaron Hotchner.”

“...I don’t thinks thats legal, sir.” Aaron looked up to see Penelope looking at him and Dharma from the doorway with wide eyes. He hadn’t even heard her come in.

Garcia thrust her hand forward, and Dharma eagerly grasped it with a wide smile.

“Hi! I’m Dharma Freedom Finkelstein-Montgomery! I _love_ your chakra crystals! Also, your aura is like,” Dharma spread her arms wide puffed her cheeks out and make a blow up sound. “So big and bubbly and positive and your positivity vibes are soooo rad!”

Garcia, who flirted with Morgan freely and in front of complete strangers, blushed bright red. Looking at Hotch and the team, Garcia smiled widely.

“It’s official, we’re keeping her. She’s officially ours.”

Dharma raised an eyebrow then turned to Aaron. She poked him in the nose and kept her finger on the tip, making him go cross-eyed as he kept an eye on the digit. “I thought we couldn’t keep people, mister, cause’ it’s ‘ _kidnapping_ ’, and ‘ _slavery_ ’.”

“She means that you’re part of the family now, groovy girl,” Morgan chuckled, and Aaron raised an eyebrow, surprised at how fast Morgan had accepted Dharma and the situation into the group. Out of everyone, Hotch had thought Morgan would be the last to accept that Hotch had a hidden past and accept Dharma into their little family.

Looking around, he profiled each of his team mates current thoughts about what was happening, and was surprised and relieved to see that they all seemed to be accepting, and even welcoming to Aaron’s revelation and Dharma’s appearance into their lives.

Suddenly, Dharma winced, and then turned to Greg with wide eyes.

“Oh, Honey, by the way, Larry is kinda really mad at you for ‘Joining the totalitarian regime aiming to suppress all freedom and infringe on the constitutional rights of all free Americans’.”

Oh. Right.

“Shit.” Aaron winced, “So like, exactly how pissed are we talking?”

“Think Kitty when she bruised her tailbone when Larry did the guitar thing. Also Jane when we had that argument.”

Grimacing, Aaron turned to his confused teammates, noticing that Reid looked contemplative.

“Think Reids mom but without the illness. Just conspiracy and a lot of weed.” After moment he added. “And some postage stamps that under no circumstances should you lick. Trust me,” He added at their bewildered looks, “The results are _not_ fun.” He stared at the wall for a bit, remembering.

Suddenly, he remembered something that made him gulp.

“Honey, what happened after I...left? You didn’t think I just walked out on you, right?”

Dharma scoffed, laughing at that, and Aaron frowned.

“Oh _hell_ no,” She snorted, “Honey, you wouldn't leave your dry cleaners for a new one without leaving a five page explanation on why and an additional 3 for an apology for doing it. There was no way you left me because you didn’t want to be with me.”

“I can _**so**_ leave my dry cleaners without leaving a note!” Aaron spluttered, voice high and offended.

“Hotch, you left me a three page explanation on why you were taking a few days off when Jack got a cold last month.” Rossi snorted, and Aaron glared at the complete betrayal.

“You shut up, you aren’t much better, Mr. I-Never-Take-A-Day-Off-Because-I’m-A-Workaholic.”

“That’s completely different! You’re just as bad!” Rossi shot back, and Emily nodded, adding her two cents;

“We’re all like that, but we certainly don’t write an essay when we take a day off, Hotch.”

“You all _suck_ ,” Aaron sighed, and it caused a startled laugh out of the team at the unusually immature phrase from their usually stern and proper boss.

“You were saying, Mrs. Boss-man?” Garcia encouraged, and Dharma thought for a second before nodding.

“Right. Ok so I interrogated Larry on what he said when I got back because he was sitting in the apartment and Stinky and Nuncio were completely missing their daddy, and when he told me what he said I had to think in Greg speech and realized you thought I was dead.”

“I’m sorry, honey, I really should have realized, we were married for five years and by that time - ” a finger on his lips made him go quiet.

“Shush. It’s not your fault, you were raised a certain way with a set thinking. So basically we tried to find you but when we realized you changed your name when Jane talked to Pete - ”

“‘ ** _Talked_** ’?” Aaron repeated sceptically; Jane didn’t just ‘talk’ to people when she was worried about a friend.

“Ok, so we had some hospital bills to pay after, but when Jane and Larry broke into a government building to try and find your name change records they dragged me along and to make a long story short we got probation and community service and a fancy shmancy electronic ankle bracelet for the next nine years and then I saw you on the news but Larry freaked out when he realized who you worked for now and I had to find a way to sneak out and go to you without Larry popping up everywhere.”

“...You got arrested.”

“Yup.” She grinned, then kissed him, and he kissed her back.

“You got arrested _trying to find me_.” Aaron murmured, a slow sappy grin growing on his face.

“Yuuup.”

“I _love_ you.” Aaron murmured, drawing her into another kiss, before mumbling against her lips. “But as a federal agent I want it to go on the record that I do not approve no matter how romantic that was.”

“So, we can have sex now?”

“DHARMA!”   
  
  


* * *


End file.
